Today I want to talk about my favorite handwriting tools for kids with Down Syndrome. These include markers, crayons, pencils, pens, and pencil grips. What my son with Down Syndrome uses for writing makes a difference not only with the legibility of his writing but also with how long he’s willing to work. So I’m sharing with you the tools that have been most beneficial for his handwriting.
Handwriting is a real struggle for many children with Down Syndrome. There are several reasons for this:
First, hypotonia (low muscle tone) makes it challenging for our kids to maintain good posture while doing seat work. It is also the reason why our children’s hands tire so easily. And it plays a role in the delayed, slow development of fine motor skills needed for controlling a pencil.
Second, most children with Down Syndrome have difficulty with sequencing and motor planning. In handwriting, the formation of each letter of the alphabet requires a specific sequence. Students who have difficulty with praxis (sequencing and motor planning) need a lot of extra practice in order to master the stroke sequence of each letter until it becomes automatic. However, students with T21 also have hands that fatigue easily, making the necessary practice for mastery difficult to do.
Third, since praxis for handwriting requires visual and tactile feedback, we also need to take into account the fact that most (if not all) children with DS have poor visual acuity. That means everything they see is in soft focus, even if they are wearing eye glasses. If a child can barely see what he has written, it makes it even more difficult for him to process what he has done. Children with T21 tend to write with light strokes, which result in faint lines that may be difficult for them to see well. This is particularly true when they write with pencils or regular crayons.
Finally, some children with DS adopt awkward, inefficient pencil grasps unless care and attention has been taken to encourage the use of an efficient and functional pencil grasp. Children should be gently encouraged to adopt a tripod grasp, which is the grasp the allows for greatest writing efficiency.
Given these challenges, choosing the best writing tools for your child is important for the development of handwriting skills.
When choosing writing supplies for your child, consider the following:
- Barrel thickness – For weaker hands or hands that tire easily use a thicker barrel. However barrels that are too thick can get in the way of dexterity, especially once a student starts forming smaller letters and starts writing longer sentences.
- Barrel length – Smaller hands need shorter pencils/markers for control and balance. A shorter barrel also promotes holding the marker closer to the tip. Ideally, the finger tips should be about 1-2 cm from the tip of the pencil/marker. If you have students who tend to hold markers far from the tip, give them writing tools half the length of regular pencils.
- Barrel shape – Use markers, crayons, and pencils with a triangular barrel to promote a tripod grasp.
- Boldness of line and vibrancy of color – This is so important for visual feedback. Avoid regular pencils while your student is learning letter formation. Use only 6B graphite pencils, or better yet, markers.
- Friction – Smoothness of application makes writing easier for hands that tire easily. Smooth application also makes it easier to write curves. However, too much smoothness can make it hard for a young student to control the marker/pen. For a beginner who is just learning to write letters, writing with a super smooth pen can feel like walking on ice. Some drag/friction allows for greater sensory input, slower strokes, and better control. Thus, once some hand strength is developed, try using pencils with weights and/or crayons on textured paper.
I wish there were one writing tool that was perfect for all children with Down Syndrome for all time. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Instead, we need to decide what it is our students need help with most: is it hand strength and endurance, a tripod grasp, praxis in handwriting (learning the sequence of strokes to form letters), or neatness and legibility?
Of course these goal are all inter-related, but some handwriting supplies are more helpful at achieving certain goals than others. For example, if your child is working on learning the sequences for letter formation, writing with smooth gel crayons will be less tiring and provide stronger visual feedback than writing with pencils. However, if your child is working on legibility, writing with markers that have more drag will slow down his strokes and give him more control for neater writing.
Hopefully, this list of my favorite writing supplies for children with Down Syndrome will help you determine what’s best for your student:
Note: This post contains Amazon affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission if you buy through them at no extra cost to you.
Markers For Handwriting:
These have very short, round barrels, and are available in get in thick or thin barrel. They are not ultra smooth, but they work well if the child does not press too hard. Unfortunately, they are not triangular but they are effective for getting students to hold the marker near the tip. This is important because holding the marker near the tip allows the hand to rest on the paper, giving it more stability. Consider using the thin Pip Squeak markers with a silicone pencil grip if you are trying to help your student develop a tripod grasp.
These are the best markers for smooth, bold lines. I personally think these provide the ideal amount of drag and smoothness on paper for best control. However, they are NOT triangular and the marker length is regular. Some children tend to hold these too far from the tip, so you might want to wait on giving these to your student until proper grasp is established.
Pencil Grip Magic Stix:
These have a barrel that is shorter and thicker than most regular markers. These are not ultra smooth; they write with a bit of drag which is good for slower letter formation but can create difficulty with curved letters, especially if too much pressure is applied.
These have similar amount of drag as the Magic Stix, and are similar in barrel width and length. They are also much better than dry-erase markers for writing on white boards, as the ink writes without making tiny bubbles yet wipes off easily with a damp paper towel. Writing on whiteboards allows for super smooth writing, which is great for children with weak hands.
Pencils
While pencils are ubiquitous in schools, they are far from the ideal handwriting tool for children with Down Syndrome. In general pencils do not provide enough contrast for strong visual feedback, especially when a child writes with a weak or soft stroke. Avoid regular 2HB pencils as they are too thin, too long, and write too faintly, as this comparison chart illustrates:
Although letters written with an HB2 pencil may look fine to most people, for children with soft focus, there is very little contrast with the paper resulting in poor visual feedback.
If your student really prefers to write with a pencil, offer 6B graphite pencils with a triangular barrel. For example, Steamflo Toddler Pencils or Lyra Ferby Giant Pencils.
However, for strong visual feedback, I would encourage young students to use markers. Here are some of my son’s spelling worksheets, completed with a 6B Steamflo pencil and Magic Stix Markers. You can see that markers create a much greater contrast on paper than even 6B pencils.
Crayons
If your child writes or colors with faint strokes, avoid regular Crayola crayons. Instead, I recommend the following:
These washable crayons have a very smooth application as they glide on the paper with ease and thus are great for children with little hand strength. The bright bold colors and thick lines provide excellent visual feed back. They are great for writing large letters and coloring. Unfortunately, the barrel is round.
Faber Castell Triangular Beeswax Crayons:
These washable crayons have a thick triangular barrel. The application is smooth, but with a little more drag than the Mr. Pen Gel Crayons. The colors are more vibrant and bold than regular crayons.
Here’s a chart showing how Crayola crayons compare to Gel Crayons and Beeswax Crayons when a light stroke is applied:
Pencil Crayons:
These are short and extra thick, with a round barrel. They are great for coloring as the extra thick barrel reduces hand fatigue and the extra large core means more coverage per stroke. The Gecko coloring pencils are not so great for lettering, as the lighter colors are barely visible if a child has a light stroke. For extra fun, brush on water to make a water- color effect. Use fat paint brushes instead of the one that come with the set.
Lyra Ferby Triangular Colored Pencils:
These are 2/3 the length of a regular pencil crayon, making them easier for small hands to control. They are also thicker, making them easier to hold for longer periods of time. The downside is that students will need to look at the tips carefully in order to choose the colors they want.
Here you can see the difference between Crayola Twistables, Lyra Ferby Pencil Crayons and Gecko Pencil Crayons when a light stroke is applied:
Pens:
These pens have a thicker barrel than most typical pens and a very smooth application. For young writers, the application may be too smooth for good control of the pen. Sometimes the ink is blotchy. The lighter colors (pink and orange) may be too light especially if the students has a soft stroke. Unlike markers, the ink does not flow well if the pen is not held vertically enough. (The pens need to be held in a more upright position). Nonetheless, because of the triangular barrel and the very smooth application, these are a good option for more advanced students writing smaller letters and longer sentences/paragraphs.
Pencil Grips:
Some children really benefit from using pencil grips to encourage a tripod grasp and reduce hand fatigue.
The Pencil Grip Original Pencil Grippers: These Silicone gippers promote a tripod grasp, but fingers need to be placed in the correct indents. When my son was just starting to write letters, he used these for several months. Each time he picked up a marker with this grip, I had to make sure he was holding it the right way to establish the habit of proper finger placement. These are designed to fit pencils, however, they can be squeezed onto thin Pip-Squeak markers by applying a bit of soap onto the barrel before putting the grip on.
Eventually my son moved onto using these silicone bumpy grips, which mimick a triangular barrel. Again, these are designed for pencils, but can be squeezed onto thin-barreled markers with a bit of soap.
What about Pencil Weights?
Some occupational therapists find pencil weights to be very beneficial for children with handwriting difficulties. Pencil weights can help steady shaky hands, give greater tactile feedback, and add weight to a pencil making the strokes darker.
Silicone Weighted Pencil Grips:
These triangular shaped grips can fit on most writing tools. We have experimented with these, but my son does not like them. Putting one at the end of a 6B pencil makes it hard to balance the pencil, and putting one near the tip makes the barrel too wide. If I place it in the middle, he does not like the way it rests in his hand. I do think the added weight towards the bottom gives more sensory feedback and more control, but for now we’ll have to put a pause on pencil weights.
If you’re interested in pencil weights, you can experiment with making one.
Writing Slant
Writing slants support better posture when writing or drawing. They are especially great for children with low tone who tend to slump over the desk if writing on a horizontal surface,
So many options… what should my student use?
When a child is first learning to write letters, the two priorities are providing VISUAL FEEDBACK and promoting a TRIPOD GRASP.
Providing our kids with strong visual feedback means giving them writing tools make vibrant, bold lines so they clearly see what they have just written (or colored, or scribbled.)
Establishing good habits from the start is also important, so encourage a tripod pencil grasp.
In typically developing children, the static tripod grasp (tripod grasp with use of the wrist to control the movement of the pencil) develops around 3-4 years old. The dynamic tripod grasp develops between 4-5 years old when children use finger movements to control the pencil, not the wrist or arm. This enables the them to write with efficiency and legibility.
In many children with DS, the development of the dynamic tripod grasp happens much later. While the dynamic tripod grasp is considered by most OTs as the preferred grasp, there are four grasps that have been found to be efficient and functional for legible handwriting. You can read about them HERE. For a long time my son used a quadrupod grasp, possibly because he didn’t have enough finger strength to support a marker with just three fingers. It’s only recently, at 8 1/2 that he is consistently using a tripod grasp.
So, for very young children just learning to write letters, I think the ideal tool would be short gel crayons with a triangular barrel, but as far as I know, these do not exist. So I recommend starting with thin Crayola Pip-Squeak Markers with silicone pencil grips. Practice writing letters on both paper and a small white board. If your student resists using a pencil grip, try the thick Pip-squeak markers or the gel crayons.
Use the Faber Castell Triangular Beeswax Crayons for coloring as they provide dark, rich colors with very little hand pressure. However, if your student has more significant visual challenges, such as cerebral vision impairment, I’d recommend the Mr. Pen Gel Crayons.
Once a tripod or quadrupod grasp is established, I recommend experimenting with some of the writing supplies listed above to see what works best for your student. Currently, I have found the Crayola SuperTip Markers best for writing letters on paper. However, it was only after spending several months using Pip-Squeaks did my son develop the habit of holding the marker close to the tip. This enables the hand to rest on the paper for greater stability.
În inclusive settings some children with DS may want to use a pencil like everyone else. In that case, I recommend offering a 6B Pencil. Better yet, have a classmate use markers alongside your student, because visual feedback is so important.
So there you have may favorite writing tools for children with Down Syndrome!
Stay tuned for Handwriting Skills for Children with Down Syndrome, coming up soon!